2:09 p.m. If the tracks are not affected by the typhoon, we'll be having another record breaking contest this weekend since races will start on Tokyo and Kyoto racing tracks.

Aerolithe will have the advantage in Tokyo in that case. As for Kyoto Dai-shoten, the pace is likely to become slow which suggests another instantaneous speed race. However, if there's a horse that would take the lead baldingly, the horse might do well depending on the lap it sets. Palingenesis, perhaps?

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3:25 p.m. Today's expected win odds for Mainichi Ohkan says that the most favored is Danon Kingly. The 2nd favored is Aerolithe and Indi Champ is the 3rd favored. Hello, I think Indi Champ won Yasuda Kinen beating Almond Eye though it's true Almond Eye had been met with an unfortunate accident in that race. Whereas Aerolithe hasn't won a G1 since 2 years ago and Danon Kingly's best performance was the 2nd place in D'erby.

Well, well, let's see what happens by the race. Oh, and Yutaka Take who has been canceled of his chance with Bloom, is now given another chance to ride in the Arc with a 3-year-old French horse called Soft Light. The horse has got Monju in his sire line. Who knows, he migt do pretty well like his grandfather.

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3:49 p.m. On the same day as the Mainichi Ohkan and Kyoto Dai-shoten, Grand Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe will be run in France. 3 Japanese horses are entered as you might already know, Fierement, Kiseki and Blast Onepiece.

All three horses seem to be coming out nicely in their last training which is good to know. They are racing against the queen of the Arc Enable, a rival too hard to beat. But as Japan has won against Ireland in rugby, you never know what's gonna happen until they hit the wire.

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1:57 p.m. The barriers for Mainichi Ohkan has been announced.

Keiai Nautique in post number 1, Gibeon in 2, Aerolithe in 3, Indy Champ in 4, Run For The Roses in 5, Persian Knight in 6, Meiner Fanrong in 7, Happy Grin in 8, Danon KIngly in 9, and Mozu Ascot in 10.

Considering the barrier, Danon Kingly must spart earlier than usual to catch Aerolithe. If his position lags back, it would be critical. On the other hand, Aerolithe drew a good post. If Tsumura could control her lap, she's the closest to winning unless her condition is not as good as expected.

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1:27 p.m. Will key Indy Champ for Mainichi Ohkan. As I've mentioned, it seems almost weird that this horse is underestimated. On the wheel would be, nah. I wouldn't have to buy a wheel since there are merely three more horses to buy: Aerolithe, Danon Kingly and Mozu Ascot.

As for Kyoto Dai-shoten, I would probably key Glory Vase along with Shirvanshah not Etario, if I were to buy betting tickets.

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9:49 p.m. As expected. But I still can't understand why Danon Kingly was so favored. Result is the astonishingly low payout. 1,000 yen for a trifecta is the lowest I've ever seen.

Didn't expect Dreadnoughtus to win Kyoto Dai-shoten, either. Well, the rider and tha horse made use of their advantage in the best way while Etario did the contrary. Riding Etario like that wouldn't even get the horse to win a 5 million prize class.

Let's leave it at that, I still have a race to watch tonight: the Arc.

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4:02 p.m. I think it's a matter of horses' stamina and power. Japanese horses have speed, outstanding speed. But they lack the power and stamina to run through 2,400 meters on Longchamp turf. That's why I've been saying over and over that Deep Impact descendants won't do well. They have more than enough instantaneous speed however, their distance range is mainly from 1600 meters to 2,000 meters, and they simply lack the power and stamina to win the Arc. How many times do I have to say that, I wonder?

JRA has built speed tracks spending decades which has become almost unique to this country like the folding type cell phones. That itself might expand the possibility of horse-racing, though if the horse-race circle wants to win the Arc so much, they should build courses that resemble Longchamp.

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Or rather, thsy should take Stay Gold descendants instead of Deep Impacts'. Though some huge group croaning "s" as an initial doesn't want that to happen.

Except for El Condor Pasa, all Japanese horses that finished 2nd in the Arc are Stay Gold descendants; Nakayama Festa and Orfevre (twice). While Deep Impact descendants have never finished above 2nd place. It's quite obvious, isn't it?

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2:58 p.m. Let's burry the memories of the Arc until next year and move on now, shall we? We have the Shuka-sho waiting to be held this weekend, despite the approaching typhoon.

Shuka-sho is known as one of the top races that tend to have big payouts. Only twice had there been low payouts that didn't reach 10,000 yen in trifecta in the past ten years. In my humble opinion, the two main points in winning such large payout is whether you judge the most favored right, and whether you're able to pick the right dark horse(s) or not.

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3:21 p.m. Speaking of Shuka-sho, I'm puzzled at why Crono Genesis didn't enter either of the trial races Rose Stakes or Shion Stakes.

It's True Almond Eye has won Shuka-sho with the same plan last year. But that was because it was Almond Eye. Crono Genesis has come up with plausible results after a couple-months' recess in spring. However, she's the type of horse that becomes nervous and tense, tends to fight against the reins in slow pace races. I don't think that her performance would improve greatly in Shuka-sho without a rehersal.

The only convincing answer I could think of is that the crew are actually aiming for Queen Elizabeth Cup.

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1:35 p.m. The barrier draw for Shuka-sho has been announced, despite the approaching typhoon. Cow mentioned it would be better this wway so I've put them all in a table.

Stay home for tomorrow as there are typhoon warnings all over and public trasportaion in center Tokyo would mostly stop operating from tomorrw noon!

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4:28 p.m. I've had all my work cancelled off to stay home today. It's the biggest typhoon I've ever seen and at such times, all you can do is stay home cecking out the latest information.

Sorry for the delay, but now I'm uploading my call for Shuka-sho. It took a lot of thinking to figure out and choose which horse to key. I'm keying Danon Fantasy. She (and Kawada) has let me down at Ohka-sho, they ought to pay me back. On the wheel would be Blanc Noir, Chrono Genesis, Shadow Diva, and Satono Damsel. Considering the track condition which is likely to be yielding.

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4:34 p.m. Danon Fantasy has let me down for the 3rd time. The first time was Ohka-sho. The second time, I got smart and didn't buy her in Oaks. And today, the 3rd time.

The rider and the horse were taking the best position in a race however, didn't have the boost when Kawada gave the horse a go. Perhaps ths lap was too fast and energy-consuming for Danon Fantasy especially, after she'd performed well in her previous race, Rose Stakes. That one was really great. That's why I got tricked again.

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5:37 p.m. It was an amazing game last night. I can still feel the excitement of our national rugby team the "Brave Blossoms" beating the Scotts and winning the ticket to the final league! And we didn't barely manage to go with some gimmick or making the typhoon an excuse, WE WON!!!! I'm so proud of those boys, they've pulled our team up to the highest level in our history, tears, tears.

And you know, what? Our head coach Jamie Joseph likes horse racing! I wonder if he buys betting tickets in Japan?

Looking back on the Shuka-sho loss is quite a task while I'm still in excitement from last night's game, but one thing I felt after the race is that lately there are less horses from lower categories that perform well in Shuka-sho.

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1:20 p.m. After all, the top five of Shuka-sho all experienced either a step grade race or a G1, the Oaks. There were no horses from lower categories in the top five. Even when the Ohka-sho winner and Oaks winner are both abscent.

That means it's quite difficult for horses from lower catrgories like 10 million prize class to win Shuka-sho. This is something I ought to remember since it's something that marks Shuka-sho as a completely different race from the Oaks, although Oaks winners usually do well in this race.

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5:23 p.m. Uh-oh, it's already Wednesday. We've had Monday off has a holiday, so I've only got 3 more days to call Kikka-sho.

And the troubling thing is that Lion Lion has scratched off. I was secretly hoping to key him (and perhaps Verox) but the horse has not only scratched off, but also has been announced to hace developed tendontis... What will I do now?

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5:13 p.m. Perhaps because it's the last of the classical race, the barrier draw for Kikka-sho has already been announced. So let's take a look.

Velox has drawn a good post, but the rider is Kawada who has been losing below 4th place 6 times in a row despite being the most favored in win odds.

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2:01 p.m. Before Kikka-sho is run, there's also another step race held on Saturday. Fuji Stakes has long been a step race for Mile Championship.

I see names of Admire Mars, Leyenda, Cathedral, Gendarme, Logi Cry on the entry list. Rain is expected from this afternoon until around noon tomorrow, so the track can be soft. Admire Mars is the most favored not to mention, and soft tracks would probably advantage him. But winning this race would not make it easier to win Mile Championship. Rather the contrary, for your information.

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7:40 p.m. Sorry for the late update, I really am. Just couldn't make enough time to focus on the horses.

To cut the long story short, my key would be Velox. Okay, okay, there's no surprise here, I know but some thing just can't be helped. On the wheel would be Zadar, World Premiere, Satono Lux, and Ho O Sabel.

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11:24 p.m. I won. Saying it humbly as it was in trio and the payout wasn't much. Didn't think Velox would be in third place, though.

The pace was slow even for a marathon race and yet the last three furlongs weren't as fast as I'd imagined. Perhaps the turf might have been quite damaged? It looked like Velox had run out of energy.

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4:30 p.m. There's something wrong with our house's network and I can't access the Internet from home. Our modem/router indicates that it's supplied of power however, all the other indicator lamps have went out. Our phone seems connecting, though there's too much noise you can't comprehend what the caller is saying. I've called up NTT and they say it's not the cable, so I called the Internet service provider and they say it's not their cable nor the modem/router they lease. Humph.

I haven't even finished reviewing Shuka-sho yet when I have Kikka-sho to review and Tenno-sho to call. And they won't let me access the Internet nor enjoy my Kikka-sho win. What kind of new torture is this?

All I know now is that Kyoto tracks were more damaged as I'd thought so it's quite energy consuming for the horses. That explains Velox's speed loss.

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4:13 p.m. It's become a national holiday today thanks to our new Emperor, but I'm here at my workplace as there's no Internet connection at home. Don't know when the connection will be recovered since there seems to be many people like us after the typhoon and we're probably way down on the wating list.

So while I'm here I took a glimpse of the entry list for this week's Tenno-sho and my, oh my. I'm seeing gorgeous names, here as I'd expected, of course. Almond Eye, Aerolithe, Al Ain, K. I. Nautique, Saturnalia, Suave Richard, old Makahiki, Wagnerian, and my Win Bright are all entering. 9 G1 champion horses! The '98 Mainichi Ohkan had great horses, but THIS is something I haven't seen for a while.

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4:45 p.m. We all know that Almond Eye would be the most favored, though there are 8 more G1 champion horse entered in Tenno-sho which might or might not make the calling harder. I'd vote for the harder.

I can't say much as I haven't had time to look into it yet. I had an urgent change of plans for my smartphone, thanks to the disconnection of home Internet access.

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6:17 p.m. I haven't been able to do anything! I wish everyone would stop eating up my time, go and do whatever they want and leave me in peace, humph. The barriers for Tenno-sho has already been announced.

One good thing was that the NTT people had come this morning and repaired our telephone line (and the Internet cable line) so I've finally recovered Internet access at home. Not that I could use it, I have to get up early tomorrow.

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2:33 p.m. As mentioned, I still haven't had time to check out AHYTHING yet.

Internet access at home has been recovered, though I can't get my old smartphone data to upload onto cloud storage, possibly because the Android version is too old resulting in a troubled situation of data not transferred.

Well, post number one on Tokyo mid-range turf has won the impression in me of "the lucky post". However, anything can happen in horse race. We've already once seen that even Almond Eye can't be an exception.

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6:55 p.m. It's been a really bustling week and I haven't had time to think much about the race. Not that I'd win if I had time.

I'll key Almond Eye, this can't be helped. But might also buy another wheel keying Saturnalia. I haven't decided yet. On my wheel so far are Aerolithe, Danon Premium (rather skeptical), Wagnerian and Al Ain. Ooops must add Win Bright somewhere though I think it's not his turn tomorrow.

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10:29 p.m. At least I got my call right in this Murmur...

I announced that I'd buy two wheels one keying Almond Eye and the other keying Saturnalia, but it turned out that I have bought only one wheel with both Almond Eye and Saturnalia keyed... How stupid. I can't make fun of Cow who thought he'd won though actually forgot to mark Aerolithe on his bubble card when he had it written on his racing form.

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2:35 p.m. I've been working hard for the past couple of weeks. Somehow my workload is not getting less, rather increasing. Why, I just don't know.

I thought I could take a break this weekend since Sunday and Monday are consecutive holidays however, stupid Cow has agreed to go buy betting tickets for JBC races held on the 4th with Mr. Njima - blah. That automatically means my Monday is lost...and possibly, money lost not won.

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6:23 p.m. I've finally deleted all the unnecessary data on my old smartphone and finished setting it up for different use. It was a long journey, yes.

Now I'll have to start reviewing G1 races for the past 2 weeks but then, my dentist tells me that I can get my appointment either this evening or couple of weeks ahead... Daunting really, though my teeth are starting to ooze again and I thought it better to go today.

So the review will be pending until tomorrow or the day after or sho knows when? Will also have to search on Urawa Keiba as that's where this year's JBC races will be held.

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2:53 p.m. A bit of cheerful topic.

I will have Sunday off, and on that day Argentina Republic Cup will be run. Among horses like Ice Bubble or Noble Mars, Ojuchousan will alsorun in this race carrying 53kg. Oju has lost in 10th place in his previous race Rokusha Stakes, though the gap between him and the winner was only 0.8 seconds while his weight will be 3kg lighter. Enough reason to make you feel like backing him up, eh?

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2:55 p.m. I've also renewed my iPad mini and because my Microsoft Word app tells me to update, I have duly updated the app but now the documents I'd made using the former version app is all garbled... This is one reason I don't like to renew things. Just thinking about the troubles being caused by it makes me exhausted.

Compared to my wretched state, Oju deserves a compliment for briskfully training. He's the king of steeplechase yet he's still challenging to go higher. I feel shameful for bickering about such small things.

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Caterpillar